Return to Bristow Bases

..........Bristow Base: Middle Wallop, U.K.

Following the success of the Royal Navy pilot
training contract, which had commenced in 1961,
Bristows were then awarded a contract by the
Army to provide ab initio training for its pilots.


It began at Middle Wallop on April 1st 1963 and
the contract has run, with renewals and rebids ever
since (2001). The ab initio training began on Hillers
(see left) with pilots then moving on to military aircraft.


Subsequently the Hillers were replaced by Bell 47G4As
which were much closer to the Bell 47 G3B1s (Sioux)
which were currently in service with the Army and so
limited the conversion problems.


Bristows had to set up the training school at Middle
Wallop from scratch and they found the experience
gained from the Naval contract extremely useful.



Initially they had to train their own instructors and
had to make sure they were up to the standards of
the Central Flying School. Eventually the civil
helicopters were replaced by Gazelles.


As of 1997 the company was providing flying training (both fixed wing and
helicopter), air traffic control and the maintenance of allotted aircraft at the
Army Air Corps Centre, Middle Wallop. And, subsequently a large contract
was won by FBS ( FRA, Bristows and Serco ) to provide joint services basic
training under the banner DHFS ( Defence Helicopter Flying School ). It
involved providing 40+ aircraft ( AS350s and Bell 412s ) to be stationed at
various bases such as Middle Wallop, RAF Shawbury and RAF Valley.

A good description of the DHFS set-up can be found at ets-news.com